The Keweenaw Peninsula juts out into Lake Superior like a 60-mile-long [97-kilometer-long] thumb. Houghton is right in the middle, gateway to thousands of square miles of forests and waterways, as well as Isle Royale National Park.

As the largest town in the area, Houghton is also the cultural hub, with restaurants, lodging, even a small university to add to the atmosphere of leafy Midwestern tranquilityearning it a place in the book The Best 100 Small Towns in America.

Hiking
With 165 miles [265 kilometers] of hiking trails, roadless Isle Royale is made for backpacking. The pièce de résistance: the Greenstone Ridge Trail, 40 miles [64 kilometers] of rugged trekking along the spine of the island, past woodland lakes and shorelines, and up and down steep ridges popping with wildflowers.

You can reach Isle Royale via a park-operated ferry that departs Houghton for Isle Royale twice a week ($96 round-trip).

Diving
Scores of divable shipwrecks lie in Keweenaw Underwater Preserve, along the north shore. The Mesquite, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter that went down in 110 feet [33.5 meters] of water in 1989, is in excellent condition; virtually all its equipment is still on deck.